The tall story

just as it has in so many other arenas, America’s predominance in height has faded.

Like Taranto, I wondered,

What are the “so many other areas” in which “America’s predominance . . . has faded”? AP reporter Matt Crenson never gets around to telling us.

However, as Americans born and raised in Puerto Rico, my siblings and I have been doing our part towards “America’s predominance in height”: my brother is 6′, his daughters are 5’8′ and 5’9″, my sister and I are 5’10”, her husband (also born and raised in PR) is 6’4, their son is 6’6″, and their daughters are 5’7″ and 5’10”. The Husband and our son, born and raised in the continental US, are also over 6′.

Not only are we working towards continuing “America’s prominence in height”, we’re doing our share towards supporting all sorts of related industries, such as longer mattresses, cars with more leg room and head room, and longer skirts, trousers and shirts.

And when my siblings and I were growing up in PR, we didn’t have health insurance, either.

We are, however, fortunate to have been born from a long line of tall ancestors.

Crenson goes on to say,

Tall people are healthier, wealthier and live longer than short people.

I forget who it was that asked, If Michael Bloomberg was taller, would he be mayor of a better city?

On the other hand, the Indians (the ones from India, not the ones from Cleveland) are finding out that

Six feet is still a good height, it is still a respectable height, but it is no longer a commanding presence.

But I digress. As Taranto points out, Crenson’s ideology shines through and through.

The AP story ends in yet more propaganda:

“In some ways it gets to the fundamentals of the American society, namely what is the ideology of the American society and what are the shortcomings of that ideology,” Komlos said. “I would argue that to take good care of its children is not part of that ideology.”

Whether that’s true is debatable; the height gap doesn’t measure how much Americans love their children. But at a minimum it does indicate – in raw feet and inches – whether the nation is giving its youngsters what they need to reach their full biological potential, or selling them short.